As an electrical connection structure having the above-described configuration, JP 2003-250213 A (Reference 1) discloses a technique in which a tuning fork-shaped terminal (a connection terminal 39d in Reference 1) and a slackened deformed portion (34a) are displaced even in a case where a plate-shaped terminal (legs 11a in Reference 1) and the tuning fork-shaped terminal are deviated when being connected to each other by forming the deformed portion at a terminal connecting portion continuing to the tuning fork-shaped terminal, thereby maintaining a contact state.
In Reference 1, a distal end of the tuning fork-shaped terminal (connection terminal 39d) branches into a forked shape, and the forked shape is brought into a conductive state by interposing the plate-shaped terminal (the leg 11a) at a surface that the portion of the forked shape faces. In addition, in a case where tuning fork-shaped terminal is allowed to be displaced by deforming the deformed portion (34a), and the tuning fork-shaped terminal and the plate-shaped terminal are connected in an inappropriate posture, automatic adjustment is performed to bring each of the tuning fork-shaped terminal and the plate-shaped terminal in an appropriate posture by deforming the deformed portion.
In this type of electrical connection structure, a support member for supporting a tuning fork-shaped terminal and a support member for supporting a plate-shaped terminal can be fitted together by a linear sliding operation, and in a state in which two support members are fitted together, the tuning fork-shaped terminal and the plate-shaped terminal are designed to be appropriately fit together. That is, after fitting of the two support members, the respective positional relationship is set such that the plate-shaped terminal is interposed between a pair of contact conduction portions which have a forked shape at the tuning fork-shaped terminal with equal pressure.
However, due to distortion of errors and postures at the time of manufacturing the tuning fork-shaped terminal and the plate-shaped terminal, it was considered that the plate-shaped terminal was not appropriately fitted into a slit-like fitting space of the tuning fork-shaped terminal even in a state where the two support members were fitted together. Specifically, a strong force acted on one of the pair of the contact conduction portions having the forked shape at the tuning fork-shaped terminal from the plate-shaped terminal, and thereby the distance between the contact conduction portions having the forked shape was enlarged and the plate-shaped terminal did not come into contact with the other contact conduction portion.
Such a disadvantage is improved to some extent by providing the deformed portion as in Reference 1. However, it is difficult to eliminate a situation in which an external force acts to enlarge the distance between the pair of the contact conduction portions having the forked shape. Note that, in a configuration having the deformed portion as disclosed in Reference 1, since a deformable member is connected to the tuning fork-shaped terminal, the number of parts is increased and a structure becomes complicated, and thus improvement for these is required.
Thus, a need exists for an electrical connection structure which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.